


I Move the Stars for No One

by AUniversalStandstill



Category: Labyrinth (1986), Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Labyrinth Fusion, Angst, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Fantasy AU, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Mild Kidnapping, Neil Hargrove Being an Asshole, Nice Billy, Sweet Steve, billy and max are on good terms, goblin steve, if that's a thing, king steve, max and billy are a good family for each other, mostly - Freeform, pining Billy, probably, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-05-01 16:49:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19181884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AUniversalStandstill/pseuds/AUniversalStandstill
Summary: Steve Harrington arrived in San Dimas, California like a ghost story. One day the big house on the hill was empty, and the next day there was Steve with his perfect hair and his perfect car and his parents that were never home. Billy wanted to smash his skull in.Someone like Steve Harrington couldn't exist, not really. Not in Billy's life. But as Billy's path around Steve gets smaller, as they start to intertwine, Billy finds himself in a maze he might just not want to get out of.





	1. Chapter 1

Steve Harrington arrived in San Dimas, California like a ghost story. One day the big house on the hill was empty, and the next day there was Steve with his perfect hair and his perfect car and his parents that were never home. Billy wanted to smash his skull in. 

The first time Steve Harrington pulled up to San Dimas High School, in a goddamn Beemer no less, and stepped out into the parking lot with those long legs and white teeth and big stupid doe eyes, Billy knew he was absolutely, positively screwed. 

“Hey, earth to asshat,” Max says, knocking Billy on the back of the head with her palm. “Stop making eyes at the new guy and unlock the door.”

“You’re lucky you didn’t mess up my hair, bitch.” Billy bites out, but there’s no malice to it. They’ve long-since made a truce with each other, but Billy still has a reputation to uphold. Max snorts and shoulders her schoolbag as Billy unlocks the car doors.

“You know what’ll happen if you get caught staring.” She tells him reminds him quietly before sliding out of her seat and taking off towards the school. Billy lights up a cigarette so he won’t have to acknowledge she’s right. 

 

Billy knows within the first seven minutes of looking at Steve Harrington that getting caught staring is the least of his problems. The sway of Steve’s hips and the little quirk of his mouth mock Billy every time he catches Steve’s eye, and wouldn’t it be just Billy’s shitty luck that he’d get stuck next to Steve in every goddamn way possible. He could ignore that they parked next to each other. The Beemer in all of its shiny new glory was still nothing compared to Billy’s Camaro. He could look away in gym class and avoid Steve in the caf, but when he has the audacity to sidle up next to Billy’s locker, the one he knows belongs to Ted Logan, and pop open the lock that Billy has to say something.

“The fuck are you doing in Logan’s locker?” He asks gruffly. It’s not that he cares, not really. He couldn’t tell you two things about the kid who’s been stowing his shit next to all year, but the fact that its Steve Harrington who’s suddenly taken his place rubs him the wrong way. Getting too close could be dangerous.

“Hm?” Steve hums innocently and looks at Billy with his big eyes on full display. He tilts his head and a strand of hair falls into his face, and then he smiles “Oh, he said he’d switch with me. It’s more convenient for the both of us.” He sweeps away his stray hair back into place and then he’s gone, the faint smell of hairspray and cologne following him. 

Ted Logan gets shipped off to military school the day after. No one seems suspicious but Billy. 

 

Max doesn’t mention Harrington again until a month later. She’s scratching at her math homework half-heartedly and Billy is pretending he doesn’t know how to do pre-algebra when they can both see his calc book in his backpack. The phone rings, and whatever half-assed effort Max was pretending to put into her work is gone. 

“Yeah?” She says and her face lights up. Billy rolls his eyes and pretends to gag right in her line of sight. That smile she’s wearing is a special one, the one she saves for the Sinclair kid, and what kind of older brother would Billy be if he didn’t give her shit for her first boyfriend? Max flips him off and carries on her side of the conversation.

“Of course!” she says emphatically, “Will Jane be there too?” 

Sinclair apparently answers affirmatively. “Sweet! Okay, I’ll see you at 7:30. Yes, I still know how to play, Lucas. Jesus. Okay, yeah, you too. Bye.” She hangs up the phone, the dopey smile still living on her lips. 

“What’s up, loser?”

“Lucas says the party is meeting up for a D&D game tonight.”

“You know it’s a Wednesday, right?” he nods towards her unfinished homework. “And Neil will skin my ass if he finds out you’re out past curfew again.” Billy’s face hurts even at the thought of it. Neil was out of town for a ‘work thing’, and took Susan with him, but Billy was sure there were gonna be eyes on him and Max all week. 

“Billy,” she whines, “Please?” And fuck if that doesn’t hit him right in the gut. She looks at him like he’s family now, like he’s really her brother, and like she really cares if she’ll let him go. Billy looks at the clock, and then back to the math on the table. 

“Fine. But I’m picking you up at 9:30, no exceptions.” He sighs and grabs the Camaro keys off the table. “And there better be an adult there. I don’t need you and that Sinclair kid doing anything gross behind my back.”

Max pulls a face. “You’re the gross one, Billy.” She snaps, “And I will have you know there will be several adults there, for your information.”

“Hmm?” he says, pulling on his denim jacket and boots.

“Yeah. Will’s mom, and his brother, and Nancy Wheeler, and Steve Harrington.” She lists off on her fingers. Billy stops halfway through locking the door, his mouth going dry.

“Harrington’s gonna be there?”

“Yeah, he’s giving Dustin a ride, but he likes to stick around and watch most of the time.”

“Oh, yeah.” He says, and prays he sounds nonchalant. “That’s cool.”

 

“You’re the best Billy,” Max says when they get to the Byers house.

“Yeah, whatever. But have your ass out here at 9:30 or I’ll drag you out.”

“You got it.” She promises, locking her pinky with Billy’s, and then she’s gone. And if Billy spends a couple minutes looking at Steve’s car in the driveway, no one has to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look,,, I don't have an excuse for this. I just think my garbage son needs some goblin lovin'. Also I put a lil easter egg in there for funsies.  
> Anyway this is unbetaed bc I am a coward.


	2. Chapter 2

Lucas steps back from the window, wrinkling his nose as he lets the shade slip through his fingers.

“Max, Your brother’s still out there.” He announces to the room. The party has recently claimed the Byers’ living room as their new home base. Mike determined that his basement would no longer be suitable, not if Max and Jane (but mostly Jane) would be joining in on D&D sessions, so Will volunteered his house, just so long as everyone cleaned up and shut their mouths when Joyce needed to sleep. 

“Yeah?” Max hums, slipping off her shoes. “Not surprised. He’s like, in love with Steve.” Lucas stares at her, and then back out the window where Billy and his car are idling in the driveway. She can feel everyone else’s eyes on her now, too. 

“Billy?” Dustin breaks the silence. “You gotta be kidding.” He throws his hands up and slumps deeper into his spot on the couch. “Actually, I think it’s impossible for him to be in love with Steve, cause I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a heart. Just more guts. And maybe like, some backup hairspray.”

“Lay off.” Max snaps and falls in between Lucas and Jane on the other couch. “Where is Steve, anyway?”

“He walked down to the Circle K for snacks, but I might as well call and tell him to never come back now that I know Billy Hargrove is out there waiting for him in the dark.” Dustin throws up his hands. “Christ. We meet one cool guy, one, and your brother’s already trying to jump his bones.”

“To be fair,” Max drawls “Billy’s been trying to jump his bones longer than we’ve known him.”

The door clicks and Steve pushed through into the warm embrace of the Byers’ living room. All eyes are on him in an instant.

“I got snacks.” He grins triumphantly, holding the plastic bag from the Circle K out like an offering. He seems to old to be so enthralled with little things like gas station candy and the back streets of San Dimas, but there’s something endearing about it. And he listens to the Party, really listens, like they’ve got important things to say. Max can see why Billy likes him. He’s kind and pretty and just a little bit strange. 

“He likes Billy, too,” Jane whispers to her from their spots on the couch. Jane’s eyes burn into Steve like she can see all his insides moving around. There’s a finality to her voice, and to Max, it’s comforting. Billy deserves something good for once in his life. Maybe Steve can be that for him. 

Then Steve starts passing around snacks, and all talk of Billy is lost to the room. Max peeks out the window. The Camaro is gone. Mike takes out his Dungeon Master notes and the game begins, Steve perched on the edge of every word.

“We’ve gotta skip the re-cap since it’s a school night, but the king of the goblins has infiltrated your fortress. Jane, make an Arcana check to see if you can sense his presence.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes u just gotta give the chillens a little page time. also, much like billy, i too am grossly enamored with steve


	3. Chapter 3

Billy doesn’t know how long he sits in the dark, only that it’s long enough that Max has long since disappeared into the house and the sun is starting to sink down in the sky. Long enough that it’s been too long, but still not long enough. Billy sighs and shifts into reverse. 

There’s a buzz in the air tonight. Billy can feel it from the air tickling at his face through the window, his pressure on the pedal, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip. Something is curling up in his gut and making him restless. It’s not an unfamiliar feeling, but it still sets Billy on edge. Something is happening tonight, he just doesn’t know when. It’s almost dark when he sees a figure in the distance. 

“Hey,” he barks into the quickly-approaching night before he can stop himself. Slowing down to a leisurely drift, Billy flicks on his headlights and watch as they bathe the figure in tinny yellow light. 

“Hey.” The figure says back, and the sound makes Billy’s knees go a little bit weak. Only he would have luck shitty enough to run into Steve Harrington after mooning over his car for the better part of ten minutes. Billy knows he’s gotta get out from under Harrington’s thumb before he does anything stupid.

“Want a lift?” Billy says instead.

“Sure.” Steve slides into the passenger seat like he was meant to be there. His cheeks are red with the heat of the day and a plastic bag from the Circle K rests in his lap. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Billy says.

“I’m headed to the Byers’,” Steve says, and Billy hums in affirmation. “Did you already drop off Max?” Steve asks. 

“Yep.” 

“Oh.” Steve bites his lip and Billy has to force himself to keep his eyes on the road. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Billy grunts. “S’not like I’m dying to start my English work.” Which isn’t necessarily true. Billy’s been looking forward to having some goddamn peace and quiet with a good book all week, but he’s not about to let Steve know that. 

“Oh c’mon, Billy. Everybody knows you’re good at reading. Besides, I think it’s kind of interesting.” Steve hums. Billy’s ears perk up. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve never been too good at books and stuff, but I like the idea of the goblins.” He runs a long finger over the clutch of the car absentmindedly. His eyes are a million miles away, out the window, but his hand is right there, an inch away from Billy’s, and Billy’s hand is practically burning where they nearly make contact.

He feels like he should be disgusted with himself for falling this hard for Steve but sparing a glance at the boy in the passenger seat, he finds he doesn’t much care. The open window sends a soft breeze through Steve’s hair and across the smooth milky plains of his face. The fire of the setting sun burns around him in an ethereal sort of way, like it can’t quite find the confidence to actually touch him. Absolutely disgusting. 

Billy pulls into the Byers’ driveway smoothly. He stalls the car, but Steve doesn’t get out.

“Door’s unlocked,” Billy says a little too gruffly. He tries to swallow the dryness in his throat down. “The kids are gonna bitch if you’re any later.”

“Thanks,” Steve beams, letting his hand brush Billy’s for real this time. “for the ride, I mean.”

“Yeah,” Billy says, willing his voice not to break. Steve reaches into the Circle K bag and pulls out an old tattered copy of their Lit book.

“Here.” He presses the novel into Billy’s lap. “I just finished it. Maybe when you’re done, we can talk about it. Make sure I got all the important plot points and stuff.” He pushes a hand through his hair bashfully. Billy has a brand-new copy waiting for him on his kitchen table, but there’s no way in hell he’s going to turn down a study date with Steve Harrington. 

“Yeah.” He says, picking up the book. It’s old, for sure. Maybe even first edition. The margins are filled with notes that he can’t quite read, smudged out with time, or maybe in a language he doesn’t know. Wherever this book came from, it’s clearly important to Steve.

“See you later, Hargrove,” Steve says and slips out of the car, the scent of his hairspray and deodorant lingering just a second longer. Billy peals out of the driveway. He’s got some reading to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> parts 2 and 3 were og gonna be in one chapter but I decided against it. Anyway, all the goblin stuff starts to go down next. 
> 
> Also, I changed the summary, and I was wondering if y'all think the new one is more effective or not?


	4. Chapter 4

When the phone rings, Billy his halfway through the Labyrinth. He’s sunken deep into the couch, gobbled up by the world of the goblins, hair knotted back in a stolen hair tie from Max and reading glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. Billy feels more at home than he has in years. 

Part of him feels bad for the protagonist. He knows the feeling of being forgotten in his own home, of being replaced. That doesn’t stop him from finding her incredibly annoying. And besides, wishing away your problems isn’t a very healthy way to deal with them. Not that Billy has any room to talk.

The bigger part of Billy, the part that hides behind his pity for the girl, feels worse for the Goblin King. He doesn’t really belong with his people, but he certainly doesn’t fit in with the human world. And besides, he seems like he’s got a pretty good gig, all told. Taking kids away from where they’re not wanted, setting them up with jobs and lives in his kingdom. If Billy were there, stuck in the Labyrinth, he might not be quite so keen on making it home.

The phone rings again, sharply slicing through Billy’s train of thought. He heaves himself off of the couch and pads in sock-clad feet to the phone, the book still in hand. 

“Hello?”

“Billy.” Neil grunts from the other end. “That’s not how you were taught to answer the phone.”

“Sorry, sir.” His fingers grip hard into the spine of Steve’s book. Part of him hopes he isn’t bending it. The other part knows that the feeling of his fingers on the curling paper is the only thing grounding him. “Hello, you’ve reached Hargrove residence. How may I help you?” Billy grinds out.

“Good. Took you long enough to answer.” Neil sniffs. “Susan and I are on our way home.”

Billy is barely able to stop the distressed noise that threatens to rip from the back of his throat. “Yessir.” he coughs instead.

“Susan decided she didn’t want to spend the night away from Maxine.” Neil huffs. At least, Billy thinks, he and Neil will both be miserable tonight, even if it’s for different reasons. “We’ll be home in about forty minutes. I expect Maxine to be in bed and the house to look like you were never out of your room, do you hear me, boy?”

Billy’s stomach drops to his feet. He doesn’t dare tell Neil it’s only 8:15, that Max can stay up until 9:30 on school nights. In fact, he’s not sure he could tell Neil anything, even if he tried. Max’s school work is still unfinished on the table. Her backpack is sprawled across the floor. She’s not even in the goddamn neighborhood. Billy is totally and terribly and absolutely fucked.

“Yessir.” he forces out.

“Good.” the line goes dead. Billy licks his dry lips, and with a shaky hand, dials the Byers’ number.

 

The third time no one picks up, Billy’s heart feels like a bird beating its way out of his chest. Shoving on his jacket and grabbing his keys, Billy starts bargaining with the universe.

“I’ll do her math homework until I graduate.” he starts, revving up the Camaro and shoving his reading glasses into the breast pocket of his denim jacket. God forbid anyone saw him, regardless of the driving hazard they provide. “I’ll stop bitching about taking her to the arcade.” He pulls out of the neighborhood. “Fuck, I’ll lick her shoes clean if she wants me to, just let me get her back to the goddamn house.”

He’s got twenty-seven minutes left on the clock when he practically sprints up to the Byers’ front door and starts knocking.

He can’t see Nancy Wheeler’s car anymore, so he supposes she and her boyfriend fucked off somewhere the Nerds weren’t, but Steve’s car is still in the driveway. Still, no one is opening the goddamn door, so Billy decides to ditch bargaining and resorts to what he does best- threats.

“Maxine.” Billy hisses, clenching his fists to keep himself from knocking down the Byers’ door. “Get your ass out here right now or I swear to god, I will skin you and all your little friends alive-” the door suddenly swings open, and Steve Harrington is standing on the other side, wearing one of the dopiest expressions Billy has ever seen. 

“Billy?” He tilts his head, and Billy tries his best to school his snarl into something less surely. More approachable. Friendly. Dateable. “You’re back early. I thought Max said you were picking her up at 9:30.”

“Yeah.” he runs a hand through his already wrecked curls. “I called ahead but no one answered. It’s just, something came up and I need to get Maxine home. Now.”

“Oh,” Steve says and his gaze feels like it’s swallowing Billy up. He shifts uncomfortably and Steve blinks those big doe eyes and it’s gone. “Yeah. Sorry. We were all out back. I was just in the kitchen to grab the kids some water. But yeah, I’ll go get her.” Billy tries not to swoon. He might not be very tolerant of Max’s mouth-breather friends, but Steve sure is, and Billy’d be lying if he said it wasn’t endearing. Steve steps aside in the doorway. “Actually, maybe you could come with me.” a light pink burns at Steve’s ears and cheeks. “Easier to pick through the dark with two people instead of one. Besides, there’s like rocks and stuff.”

If Billy was a less enamored man, he would point out that he and Steve are in the middle of suburbia. The worst thing hiding in the dark is probably Max herself. But Billy is whipped, beyond whipped, and couldn’t say no to Steve if he tried, even if he is running out of time. 

“Yeah. Sure,” he says, following Steve into the house, and even helps him pick up the water bottles he’d laid out to take back to the kids. The smile Steve gives him is blinding. 

“C’mon, they’re just out the backdoor and then through the rocks.”

In all fairness, San Dimas isn’t a bad place to live. Billy hates it, but it’s the kind of hate that comes from being stuck in the same spot his whole life. He hates the dust and the people, and he especially hates driving an hour and a half to the ocean, but it’s got a mall and a skate park and cheap weed. If he was really unlucky, he’d be stuck in someplace like Hemet, or hell even out of California. Somewhere like Indiana or Iowa where he’d have to watch corn grow for fun. But as Billy steps out into the cooling night, the last fingers of the sun long past set, Billy decides he really really hates San Dimas. Where else would there be a house built right up against a pile of rocks the perfect size to trap a desperate boy’s ankle and twist? 

“Fuck!” Billy yells as he falls. He can see the kids camped out in the distance, just over Steve’s shoulder as the other boy whips around. “Shit!”

“Billy!”

He’s landed mostly on his side, luckily away from the rocks that trapped his foot, but unluckily ripping the only nice pair of jeans he has. Susan will kill him for this. After Neil kills him for letting Max out of his sight. There’s gonna be a lot of bloodstains coming out of his clothes.

He can feel the sharp sting of skinned elbows and he’s sure there will be a killer bruise on his hip, but it’s his foot and the numb way it doesn’t hurt that worries him the most. 

“Billy!” Steve calls out again and is kneeling by his side. “Shit, are you okay?” And then his hands are roaming over Billy’s arms, his face, looking for scrapes and cuts. Billy can feel himself burning into the touch.

“‘M fine,” he says. “Fuck, I dropped your book.” 

“It’s fine, Billy.” Steve soothes as Billy reaches helplessly for the little red book that had tumbled out of his pocket. He doesn’t recall putting it there. “Here.” Steve pushes it back into Billy’s lap. “D’you think you can stand?”

“Don’t really have much of a choice, do I?” Billy laughs mirthlessly. He shoves the book unceremoniously into his jacket pocket and hooks his arm around Steve’s neck. The kids are still blissfully unaware anything has happened, that their water bottles are sprawled through the yard with traces of Billy’s blood. Unaware that Billy has sixteen minutes until Neil Hargrove will be ready to rip Billy’s life away. 

“Let me take you back inside.” Steve soothes, but Billy is about two seconds from crying like a pussy in front of Steve Harrington, no less, and all he can do is shake his head.

“I don’t have time. I gotta get Max home, fuck, I’m in so much trouble.” he hisses, letting half his weight fall on Steve as he tries to tug them back towards the kids. 

Steve, for his part, is taking it like a champ. Billy knows Steve isn’t weak, but Billy is built like a tank. He’s solid, and Steve’s lithe little arms shouldn’t be able to move him as gracefully as he does. 

Billy tries to take a step and then curses a string of ugly things he’s sure has his mother rolling over in her grave. “Fuck!” he yells, but he’s not sure who exactly he’s yelling at. Himself or the rocks or the sky. Maybe all three. 

“Hey, maybe we should just sit down,” Steve says like he’s talking to a spooked animal, and is that really what Billy has dissolved into? He feels the hot burn of tears behind his eyes and decides yeah, maybe it is.

“You don’t get it.” he forces out before any tears can breach his eyes. “My dad is on his way home and if Max isn’t in bed in the next fifteen minutes, I’m dead meat.” He stares uselessly into the dark. “Y'know what?" he barks out a short, empty laugh. "I wish... I wish the Goblin King would come and take us away.” Steve sucks in a breath beside him. “Right now.”

“Oh, Billy,” Steve says. “I thought you’d never ask.”

Then, Billy Hargrove blacks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah I hc that billy is secretly SOFT and wears READING GLASSES fight me 
> 
> Also i bet you forgot that there was a plot to this hehehe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient. I was mad but not surprised with the treatment of my trash son. Also this bit takes 3 minutes in the movie Labyrinth but like 3 weeks to figure out how to write so smh

 

Billy’s head _hurts._

 

For a second, he thinks he might be hungover. He’s got no idea where he is or when he fell asleep, and the stale taste of his own tongue tells him he’s been knocked out for at least a few hours. Blacking out, however, usually leads him into the backs of seedy bars or the bed of a girl with brown hair and big eyes that he’ll never speak to again. Right now, Billy feels wet, and not even the sexy kind of wet. Just _damp._

 

The air feels too heavy to even be air, like a cold towel pressing around his nose and throat, dripping little droplets of water down his neck. It smells like chilled, wet dirt and grass after a rainstorm. And it burns going up his nose and down his chest. That, and the dirt pulled into his mouth and nose with each breath. He rolls over, undignified but alive, and opens his eyes.

 

And then, Billy remembers.

 

“Shit!” He swears and pulls his aching body into a sitting position. Now that his eyes are open and dirt-free, he can see trees towering above him. Pine and oak and birch and a million other trees Billy’s never seen up close and personal. He’s not in San Dimas anymore.

 

“Maxine?” he calls gruffly into the woods. It echoes in the night for a moment before tapering out. The inky shadows of the trees do not respond. The sheer amount of trees is suffocating like they’re swallowing up his voice and throwing it back at him. “If you and your friends are out here, this isn’t fucking funny.”

 

“Anyone out there?” he tries again. Nothing. Only the cold and the dark rush up to meet him. Shit.

 

Billy scrubs a hand down his face in frustration. His eyes burn with panic and frustration, but he won’t let himself cry. Not that it would make a difference since he’s all alone in a goddamn _forest._

 

Eventually, Billy picks a direction and starts walking. It’s aimless and Billy has always been shit at directions, but he never seems to double back on himself. He finds a barely-there path, grown over by grass and time, but it’s better than any of his other options. Besides, his luck might be changing. When he stops to take a piss in the woods just off the trail, he finds it again and doesn’t even go the wrong direction. It’s almost like the woods are leading him somewhere. Almost.

 

Billy hopes to hell wherever he ends up has a payphone. 

 

If he looks up, he can just see the moon through the canopy of trees, but its position never seems to move no matter how far he walks. The night is just frozen. Aside from the moon, the sky is empty. Not a single star in the sky and Billy knows it’s not the pollution. It’s just the moon and Billy and the woods. It’s creepy as all hell.

 

Eventually, the woods start to thin out and his deer trail turns into a marked path and then an old service road. Billy exhales heavily with relief. “Oh thank fuck.” A service road means a service station, and a station means a phone and some internal heating and someone for Billy to talk to before he loses his goddamn mind.

 

He’s cold and sore and scared shitless about the disappearance of his sister, not that he’d ever admit it, and could really use a shower, among other things. If he’s lucky, he can call the police and they’ll keep him overnight for questioning. The longer he can stay away from Neil’s wrath, the better. Besides, on cop shows, they bribe people with food when they want a confession. Billy’d confess to a lot of things for some mashed potatoes.

 

He follows the service road up a steep incline and sure as shit, there’s an old cabin perched at the top of the hill. It looks straight out of a horror film, rotting and wilted and as grey as the dead leaves that surround it. Billy has never been so happy to see a building in his life.

 

“Hello?” Billy bangs on the door. It looks about ready to pop off its hinges, but Billy figures he should be polite. “Anybody home?” 

 

There’s no answer, but he can see there’s a light on through one moth-eaten curtains. Electricity means there might be a phone. That’s invitation enough.

 

He cautiously pushes on the door, and it swings open for him without hesitation. “You’ve been waiting for me, huh?” he hums, stepping over the threshold. He really is losing it out here, and he hasn’t even been stranded a day.

 

“Anybody home?” he asks again, just in case. Getting shot down by a paranoid mountain man isn’t at the top of his priority list. Besides, his mother raised him right. Mostly.

 

He picks his way inside when he’s met by nothing but silence. The light is coming from the kitchen and Billy eagerly washes his face and hands in the rust-colored water from the faucet. The cabin looks lived in, judging from the dishes in the sink and the books piled on the dining table. Billy picks one up and thumbs through the pages. It’s a picture book.

 

_Someone’s raising a kid out here?_ He frowns. No way in hell that’s good for their social development.

 

He searches the walls and sockets for a phone before turning his attention to the pantry. He settles on a box of expired saltines for dinner. He figures they won’t be missed much, and chewing as quietly as he can, he steps into the next room.

 

Billy feels around for the light switch and engulfs the room into a buttery yellow glow. It looks like a living room, with a worn-out couch and a TV and a bookcase. And maybe, if he’s lucky, a phone. He checks by the TV and all the shelves and is half-bent over the ratty couch, saltine hanging from his lips when a low wolf-whistle pierces the room.

 

Billy just about shits himself. 

 

He whips around so fast, the last cracker in his mouth shoots across the cabin, but Billy doesn’t dare look to see where it lands. His dinner is quickly turning to stone in his stomach. If Neil hears about him breaking and entering, even for Max’s sake, Billy won’t be able to walk again by basketball season. And if he’s being honest, that’s the only thing that’s gonna get him a scholarship and out of his father’s house. For a brief second, Billy thinks about fighting his way out. But he’s not like that, not anymore, so he settles for looking at the ground and putting his hands over his head.

 

“Sorry,” he rasps, eyes glued to the floor. “Got lost in the woods. Didn’t think anyone was home.”

 

The voice, which had started to softly laugh, stops abruptly. Billy hears soft footsteps padding towards him, and a familiar pair of Nikes stops in front of him. 

 

“Hey,” the voice soothes and a warm hand gently finds its way to one of Billy’s broad, tense shoulders. Billy fights the urge to flinch.“It’s okay, it’s me. Look at me, it’s Steve.”

 

The seizing in Billy’s chest subsides enough for him to look up into the huge doe eyes of Steve Harrington. His arms drop, his shoulders droop, and he falls gracelessly onto the couch. He does not, however, break Steve’s gaze.

 

“Hey, Harrington.” Billy clears his throat awkwardly. Steve dips into the couch next to him.

 

“Hey, Hargrove.”

 

It’s almost soft for a minute. Almost. And then Billy’s brain runs to catch up to his body,

 

“Where the fuck are we?”

 

Billy expects an answer like “the redwoods” or “Oregon”, or fuck, even some no-name state like _Indiana_. What he doesn’t expect is for Steve, in all his beautiful glory to look Billy dead in the eyes and say “The Upside Down” like it’s the most serious thing in the world. Billy can’t help himself. He starts laughing.

 

Maybe it’s the exhaustion or the stress, and he’s fairly certain he’s terribly dehydrated, but Billy lets out a full, round belly laugh and then he can’t seem to stop.

 

“The Upside Down? Like, the place from our Lit book? The place with the Labyrinth?” Steve nods seriously. “Fuck, Stevie. Where are we gonna end up next? Mordor? Oz?” He laughs so hard that finally a few hot tears slip down his face, and just like that he’s crying. Fuck Steve Harrington and his big eyes and his pretty hair and the way he makes Billy’s insides go floppy. 

 

“Billy,” Steve says softly after a few minutes of terrible, wretched sobs ripping from Billy’s throat. He has one of his warm hands on Billy’s knee to anchor him, the other brushing the tear tracks from Billy’s ruddy face. “I’m not kidding.”

 

Billy hiccups pathetically and scrubs at his eyes with the palm of his hands. He’ll probably never forgive himself for falling apart in front of the one goddamn person that he thinks his reputation matters, but he’s currently got more important things on his plate. Like being lost in the woods with a brat brigade and Steve Harrington trying to sell him bullshit.

 

“Did you hit your head, man?” Billy asks, slipping back into his mask. His fingers nearly ghost Steve’s cheek before the other boy shakes his head and frowns deeply. 

 

“Did _you?_ ” he spits out, a little harsher than necessary and Billy drops his hand. “I’m serious, Billy. What’s the last thing you remember?”

 

“I was with you,” he says, furrowing his brow. “In the Beyers’ backyard, looking for the kids.”

 

“And then you said…”

 

“I said _I wish the Goblin King would come and take us away_.”

 

“ _Right now_.” Steve finishes for him

 

“Steve, that was just…” It wasn’t a joke, exactly. In the moment, he really would have done anything if it meant getting away from Neil and saving his own skin. “Just a figure of speech. Y’know, topical.” he finishes lamely. 

 

“What’s said is said,” Steve says sadly, but he offers Billy a hand and nods towards the front door, and Billy is helpless but to follow Steve, just like always. 

 

They leave the cabin, the lights still on and the door unlocked behind them. The woods have virtually disappeared, and in their place is a street. It’s dark, but the faint glow of street lamps lick away at the night. From what Billy can make out, it’s a neighborhood. The trees from the forest seem to have fallen away from where the houses now stand. They swallow up the space between the sagging buildings like they’re the only thing from keeping the street from fracturing apart. And then there’s the street itself. It looks like it goes on forever and ever in a straight line, just the street and the lights and him and Steve for miles and miles.

 

“This is the Upside Down.” Steve says. “Or, you know, part of it.” He shoves his hands into the back pocket of his jeans and starts walking to the mouth of the street. Billy looks behind them, and the cabin is only a speck in the distance.

 

“This is the start of my Labyrinth. And you see that? All the way down there?” Steve points a long finger to a hillside mansion far, far in the distance. It looks the same as it did in San Dimas, but in the low light of the night and the fog, there’s something so much more lonely about it. “That’s where Max is.”

 

“Take me to her.” Billy breathes.

 

“I can’t.” Steve smiles ruefully. “If you turn back now, she has to stay with me forever. But I can offer you this. If you run my labyrinth and make it to the castle beyond the goblin city, you are both free to go.”

 

“Steve.” Billy pleads. “You don’t understand, I have to get Max home or my dad will kill me.”

 

Billy can see the turmoil behind Steve’s eyes. He heaves a great breath and chews at his bottom lip for a long moment before lacing his fingers with Billy’s and pulling him towards the entrance of the Labyrinth.

 

They stop at the first house on the street, an ugly pea green that never quite left the 60’s. Steve reaches his free hand under the sagging porch steps and pulls out a long bat studded with nails, swinging it casually over his shoulder.

 

There’s something different about this Steve. The Steve he has known was always sweet and kind and beautiful, but his head was way up in the clouds. He was much more comfortable existing and doting on the kids he so often had in tow. This Steve is much more solid, present in a way Billy has never seen him before. He’s got an air of authority, and Billy knows it would follow him with his weapon or without it. His jaw is set, his hair is tousled by the cool breeze of the night and shines under the moon. He is truly ethereal. If Billy wasn’t so freaked out by the bat, he’d be really turned on.

 

“Steve?” Billy whispers.

 

Steve smashes the front window.

 

Billy jumps back in surprise. He can’t go very far with Harrington’s fingers pretzeled up with his own, but he’s far enough that the glass doesn’t quite reach him.

 

“C’mere.” Steve tugs instantly at his fingers. “Look.”

Billy peers over his shoulder into the fractured glass. At first, that’s all he sees. Just glass and bits of splintered window crunching under his best boots. But slowly, fuzzy shapes start to form where the shards overlap the most, then colors and faces, and he can see Susan and his father in the fractured pile of glass. “They’ve got a flat tire. It should hold them off, say, two hours up there? But down here, that could mean anything.” Steve has a sly smile curling at his lip. Slowly, he lets go of Billy’s hand and pulls a watch from his jacket pocket. “but today, it means 13 hours. So I’ll make you a deal, Billy Hargrove. If you can solve my labyrinth in 13 hours or less, I will return you back to the surface world, safe and sound with enough time to drive Max home before Neil even gets back on the highway.”

 

“And if I can’t?”

 

“You can.” Steve says simply, pressing the watch into Billy’s palm. “But if you don’t want to, you’ll stay here with me.” He sets aside the bat to rest on the battered front of the porch. With his newly free hands, Steve wraps his arms around Billy’s neck and leans up to his ear. “Think about it. It’s only forever. Not long at all.”

 

And then Steve is walking away, the bat swinging over his shoulder, into the mist that swallows up the edges of the Upside Down, and Billy is left alone with the watch, ticking away his time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't wanna give steve an orb bc that was weird. also next chapter is steve's thoughts. we all know how thirsty billy is but steve is a hoe too


End file.
